Herbgarden near Wymar
The use of healing herbs is popular throughout Daleth. Many people have herbs in their gardens, and towngardens have herbs too. For specialised herbs, the herbseller on the fairs can be visited. These herbsellers have more exotic herbs for sale, from beyond Wythviz or from Dernian Landis, or special places in Daleth.
Wisdom about the use of herbs is found by hedge wizards and witches, but most people know what to do with common herbs.
Of course, all herbs should be without stains or dirt when used.
Herbs to prevent illnesses
Painkilling herbs
Herbs that stop the blood
Relaxing herbs
Poison-destructing herbs
Healing herbs
Mind activating herbs
Stimulating herbs
Herbs for pregnancy...
...and the prevention of pregnancy
A herb that causes a painless death
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Herbs to prevent illnesses
Herbs that prevent you from getting ill or sick are always useful. They are all common: The Lok, the Yellow Myl, the Nedel (be it soft, biting or wild), they all can be boiled in water and the drink resulting from this is good for body and mind.Boil about a handful of petals and/or leafs with two chalices of water. Let it boil for a short time, until the herbs fall on the bottle of the kettle. Pour the drink in a cup through a sieve. Drink it hot, or let it cool down. The drink stays good for a long while when sieved and put in a bottle with a waxed cork on it.
The combination of these herbs in a drink can give it a better taste. Sweeten the drink with wild honey if it is too strong; the honey gives it extra healthy quality as well.
Redflowered Schuzcrut, less common, can be used to frighten away an upcoming illness and cures colds. Put the flowers in a bowl, pour boiling water over it, and inhale the steam. To prevent the steam from getting away, use a cloth to cover your head and the bowl.
The Yellowflowered specie works less strong and can be used for children (be careful with the boiling water and watch as the child inhales the steam). It is also used to make small pills (mixed with honey, mynde, and beeswax), and those open up the nose and lungs when a cold is caught.
By the way, eating normal and regular meals (with vegetables and/or fruits) is good for the health too.
Painkilling herbs
Pain is never good. There are several herbs to get rid of pain, but always be aware what causes the pain before killing the pain and not the cause. It is better to kill the cause than the pain.Balwyncruz eases headaches when the powder of the dried plant is eaten. Dry the plant, crush it, then mix the powder with water or make pills of it. Eat or drink it then. The pills and powders can be bought on the markets.
Aching stomachs can be cured with a hot drink from boiled Wizdils. The Wenche has the same purpose, but is also good for killing heartaches and other pains in the body.
When the pain comes with old-age, Uslithacruz is good. Make an ointment from the Uslithacruz-root using beeswax, heat the ointment until it has body temperature, and then stroke the ointment on the aching places. Do this careful and don’t hurt the patient doing so. The extract of boiled Uslithacruz petals can used as a drink, it relaxes the muscles.
Staksbloma should be used as an ointment and be put on wounds of all kind. It takes away the pain when the wound is healing, and also takes away the pain from old wounds and scars.
Herbs that stop the blood
Wolfstooth is used in an ointment that is places on the wound. It makes the wound ache a lot, but works quick. Using Staksbloma (see above) in the ointment reliefs a little. The Wolfstooth grows high in the mountains.Dystil is more common than Wolfstooth. When the extract of it is drunk, it calms down the blood, so that it flows less quick from the body. Dystil should not be used by those who have diseases of the heart.
The tincture of the Red Tym doesn’t stop but lessens the monthly bleeding of women, and eases the pains going with it. It is also used when a woman is giving birth.
Relaxing herbs
Purple Vindelsflower, the Green Jusila and the Wild Anaqal are all relaxing and good for sleeping. The herbs can only do good when the reason to relax has a cause that is not related to the surroundings. You can not relax with herbs in a busy room, or in the middle of a war. The herbs are there to relax the mind and from the mind the body, not the other way around.The seeds of the common purple Vindelsflower should be crushed and then boiled in water. Drink it while still warm, but not hot. Sweeten with honey. Other herbs can be mixed in the drink, but not when stimulating or activating.
The Green Jusila should be dried and then mixed with resin. The mix should be placed in a metal cup, over a soft burning flame. The smell from the Jusila works relaxing. The Red and Pink Jusila can be used in the same manner, but their smells give hallucinations that are not always relaxing. The Jusila is an exotic herb, though some plants have been found near Hveitsvar.
The rare Wild Anaqal, which only grows near Mount Funins, brings one quick into a state of deep, dreamless sleep. It is very powerful and can get people unconscious when used in larger amounts. It is available as a powder, made from the petals (powerful) or the stem (weaker). It can be sniffed, or put in a drink. The Blind Anaqal is less rare, has less power, and causes bad dreams. Both species of the Anaqal are expensive.
Poison-destructing herbs
Swampcreeper is a well known healing herb in Salamandran. It can be found in the moors and on the banks of the Is. The stems and roots should be boiled in water, until the water has gone. Then put the residue in alcohol in a glass pot with a glass cover. Let this stand for at least a menoth, shake and stir daily. It stays good for years when kept from air.Drink a sip a day of it when poisoned. Don’t drink more, for the Swampcreeper is poisonous in large amounts.
The Seal of Vindel, when still young and yellow, works also against poisons. But be careful: touching the white “milk” of the plant is dangerous and causes irritations of the skin. The Seal of Vindel is found next to roads and in pastures. Don’t use the plants when they have gone grey and the seeds drift away in the air.
Boil the leafs of the plant in water and drink it when it is still hot. Don’t sweeten or mix with other herbs. Throw away when cooled down, and don’t reheat it.
The "milk" can be used in small doses to make an ointment with. The ointment can be used to kill the roots of the Phyarxwurz.
Healing herbs
Lupin cures fever when the stems and leafs are boiled in water and the extract is drunk while still hot. It also makes one sleepy. The extract is not very strong and should be drunk about six times a day.False Banjagras is used in ointments or oils that should be places on wounds to cure them (a bandage should keep a compress of False Banjagras oil in place). It grows on rocky soils, in the sun. The juices of fresh plants help curing small wounds, but are not very strong.
Triple Gundblum cures all ulcers when the petals are used in ointments. The extract of in Brunsbezi-drink boiled Triple Gundblum is used to cure illnesses of the teeth and the mouth.
Strong Winterlok eases the pain, but also heals broken limbs. It makes the bones strong and healthy, stimulates the heart and betters the quality of the blood. The fresh plants should be bound to the wound (and refresh them every day!), the crushed dried leafs should be drunk with warm water (no alcohol).
Mind activating herbs
The herbs that activate the mind makes your more active and less sleepy. It is not recommended to use these herbs for a long time, because sleep is good and healthy too.Golden Shade does not only activate the mind, but gives a good feeling all over too. The exotic plant has never seen Daleth, but the strong powders made from it can be found on any market. The powder can be mixed with flour and then you can bake energising cookies or cakes with it.
The common Blowurz grows near settlement, on the heaps of rubbish. It takes away the sleep and brightens the mind. In bigger doses, it makes the body active and the mind restless. It is only recommended when feeling ill and powerless.
The common Fonflower has seeds that can be roasted and eaten or made into oil. The roasted seeds can be used in bread or cookies too. It activates the mind and brightens the sight, but it also calms down dreams. One is able to think better when eating Fonflower seeds, but one doesn’t get smarter doing so. The oil is used to on the eyes and ears, to see and hear better. It also “wakes” the skin to give it a healthy glow.
Mynde (Biting or Blind) is activating the mind and the heart when used in tea’s. Its powers will stay even when used with other herbs. The biting kind is stronger than the blind kind, and the latter is recommended for children and fragile people.
Stimulating herbs
The following herbs are not true healing herbs, but they do have a use. They better your sex life (but not your love life as such). Many plants are related to the Cult of Phyarx, and most of these plants can be found in the Phyarx temples, be it in the garden as fresh plants or on the shelves, in dried form. Of course they grow in the wild as well, and are on sale on markets.Phyarxstiggles is a grass-like herb that heathens the blood - or it feels like that. It also makes the skin more sensitive. You can rub or massage the fresh Phyarxstiggles on you skin (wherever you want), or drink the boiled extract, or both. The small pink/red flowers can be used as decoration on a wedding and have no healing use.
The “milk” from the Gräinszpaiskuldr is a strong smelling aphrodisiac. The smell alone tells the lover enough and brings him/her (and the user of course) in a state of want. The herb is a plant with enormous flowers, that look like a chalice (the flower is also known as the “Womb of Gräins”). In the chalice the seeds and rainwater form the “milk”. The milk should be rubbed on the skin, like a perfume. Too much Gräinszpaiskulder makes one mad, and when using it too often it becomes addictive.
Wild Dunstil is very subtile. The leafs of it should be boiled in water, and then cooled down. It tastes good with biting mynde, honey and/or ice. After drinking, it relaxes and gives weak but beautiful hallucinations. After a stonde, it stimulates the body. When muscles are used, the Dunstil stops then from getting tired or painful. The effects fades in a few stonde, leaving the user in a state of bliss. Using it too often gives heart failures that can cause death, but some say it is worth it.
The oil from the Sevenpetaled Snowcrusher seed eases the mind and gives stimulating dreams. It is sold as a love potion, mixed with mead. The flowers from this cold loving spring plant can be boiled with wine to give the same effect, be it that the warm wine makes one sleepy. By the way, a bunch of Snowcrusher is a sure way to tell someone in Overveer you love him/her, and is used to decorate a bride (don’t say it with the -lighter coloured- fivepetaled, which means “you haunt me”).
Herbs for pregnancy...
A cooked Phyarxwurz root will get a woman pregnant soon. The Phyarxwurz grows in the forests, near brooks and pools (and in the shades of the gardens that belong to the Gräinstemples). The Phyarxwurz should be cooked in the light of the full moon, that is, in a kettle filled with water, wine or mead -mixed with a little blood from the woman- that reflects the light of the full moon. It is to the woman what to do with the cooked root (most of them will think of something useful when they see the shape of it).Legends have it that when a woman uses the cooked Phyarxwurz without making love to a man, Lukarna will be the "father" of the child, and the child will be sterile (a legend that is obviously related to some other believe than the normal Elemental religion).
Men should never even touch the Phyarxwurz root. It makes them very sick. It is unknown what the effect of Phyarxwurz on an Ainahawair is.
Pregnant women can use relaxing or painkilling herbs and when they feel bored and ugly, they can use stimulating herbs as well, but only in small doses (see above). Red Tym is used when the woman is giving birth.
...and the prevention of pregnancy
Wild Summerbeauty and Slim Anstscrut prevents a woman from getting pregnant - in most cases that is. Both herbs should be used before or during making love, afterwards they are useless. The flowers should be used in seed killing ointments (a mix of the two works best), but some say it works as well with fresh herbs (be it that they irritate the skin). One should never eat or drink these herbs, they are for internal use elsewhere (if you catch my drift).A herb that causes a painless death
Bluerooted Bleith is a herb that is not common. Where it grows is a secret kept by the priests of the Temples of the Four Gods.Bluerooted Bleith brings a patient into a deep sleep with good dreams, and then stops the beating of the heart. You can murder someone with it, and therefore it is forbidden to grow, keep or use the Bluerooted Bleith in many countries. When severely suffering, one can ask the local ruler to excuse the use of the herb. Some temples do have legal Bleith in stock, placed in a secret closet.
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